HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

So Halloween in Chile is VERY interesting. People are very confused, and they call it "your country's" holiday when they talk to us. I think they have just seen it in movies and now they are slowly adopting it; it supposedly has gotten bigger and bigger every year. But you can imagine all the confusion, some people think it's just the worst holiday ever created and it's Satan's birthday. There are actually papers pasted on windows of shops that says if you celebrate Halloween you are just being ignorant to Satan. hah I don't know but everyone is VERY interested in asking us if we celebrate Halloween, and we just explain to them that in the states, it is really just a night to dress up and have fun and has nothing to do with Satan and his evil powers. A missionary that was here last year told us we would have a lot of people asking us those questions and there would be all this confusion but it's still a fun holiday. He also said that here in Chile "Catholics love Halloween, Evangelicos hate it, and the Mormons are just confused" hahaha. So we've been clearing up some doubts.

But today is the actual Day of the Dead, so the street all the way to the cemetary is just packed with people and vendors. Selling everything! It's fun. Chileans make ANY excuse to have a holiday, they alllllllways have holidays where there is no work and no school. They love it. So I am still loving my sector although it rained 2 days this week which was so weird cause the other days like today are SUPER hot! One other thing I forgot to explain about San Javier is that the skyline here is the Andes Mountains. SOOOOOOOO beautiful oh my gosh. Especially when the sun is setting, I don't think I have ever seen anything so pretty. We are about 1 hour from the ocean and 2 hours from the Andes Mountains, which are also the border of Chile. Chile is a TINY TEANSY skinny little country!

This week we had Elder Zaballos the general authority come and do a little mini-mission conference for us and it was SO fun. He is so awesome. He really stressed how important it was to keep your mission language and he also challenged the Latin missionaries to take advantage of having SO many gringos and learn English! He had all the Latins raise their hands and there were 6 out of about 60 or so. So I fully plan on doing that, I really like Spanish even though it's hard. I will like it, too, after the mission when I have more time to study it! Right now I am learning Chilean Spanish which is totally different! There are SO many words that I use everyday all the time that are totally made-up here in Chile. It's good though, I love it. Chile is the best place, and the Chile Concepcion mission is the best mission.

We got to spend some time with the President and his wife, and I just love them so much they are SO funny. Hna Humphrey reminds me so much of my mom, it's so great. We were in the car for about 45 minutes and we talked about food ALMOST the entire time. We all miss American food! Well I think that's about all I have for this week! I love you all, I am praying for you all. Miss you, ciao!!!